I am creating a blog because I have way too many good ideas and interesting things to say to not have a blog. So, starting now, I can share those thoughts and interesting things with all of you, America.

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Saturday, June 11, 2016

End of the Day round-up for 6-11-16

Here were a couple of things that I thought about today, or interacted with.

I listened to most of Tim Ferris' interview with Kevin Kelly today. It was super interesting, and more than a little inspiring. It sounds like Kevin Kelly has a desire to make impactful changes in the world via technology and statistical analysis. I found his enthusiasm contagious. He spent some time talking about the impact that AI and robotics would have on the workforce of the developed world. While it seemed dire in one sense, I was struck by how exciting it would be to have our world have another industrial revolution. It would be uncomfortable at first, but at some point we would have made it though a major upward change.

In my mind I linked the interview to an episode of the Freakonomics podcast that aired a little while back. In that podcast Dubner talked about a guaranteed national income and the effects that it would have on a nation. The precipitating factor for the discussion was the same advance in technology that Kelly was referring to - a lack of available work because of the "rise of the machines".

One of the points that was made in Dubner's podcast was that some of the great advancements in science and technology were made by people who didn't have to work. Isaac Newton was an example of someone who lived off their parents' wealth, giving him the time to make a number of important scientific discoveries.

One of the theological thoughts that I have been entertaining for a long time is the function of "sin" as a reaction to need. For example, gluttony is an unhealthy response to the need of hunger. A lot of the "sinful" behavior that we observe in the world can be conceptualized this way. So, imagining a world that is progressing toward fewer and fewer human needs is amazing. It could be one of the ways that God is redeeming this earth and causing us to become more like Christ.